I hear and I forget, I do and I understand, I see and I remember

Tag Archives: The Soul of Kazakhstan

I traveled 3,295 km (2,047 miles) from Almaty, Kazakhstan to the edge of the Caspian sea to make this image of an ancient Zoroastrian temple. The rituals are no longer practiced there so I brought candles to light the inside and show respect for their practice of using fire as a focal point of Zoroastrian rituals.

“Zoroastrian places of worship are sometimes called fire temples. Each fire temple contains an altar with an eternal flame that burns continuously and is never extinguished.”

For 1000 years Zoroastrianism was one of the most powerful religions in the world. It was the official religion of Persia (Iran) from 600 BCE to 650 CE.

While I was making this image a woman appeared at the entrance, came in and announced that she and her family were there to honor a relative who had died and was buried nearby in what the Kazakh’s call “the city of the dead”. She invited me to join them in honoring her relative. She turned and walked out.

A print of this image will be shown this Saturday, June 30, 2018, 11 am to 4 pm as part of an exhibit exploring the concept of “Art within Architecture”.

Kazakhstan is dotted with 48,000 lakes, many small like this mirror-surfaced one at Ush-Konyr near Fabrichny

Lake Ush-Konyr is a one of my favorite places with no power lines in sight, silent and serene. Kazakhs consider lakes the eyes of the sky.

Kazakhstan is a place of irony. Some of the worst man-made disasters; Aral Sea and Polygon have occurred in Kazakhstan. Some of the most beautiful and pristine places on earth are to be found in Kazakhstan.

Wayne Eastep standing by his photograph of the Tien Shan mountain range in Kazakhstan. The Tien Shan are also know as the “Celestial Mountains.” The print is at the entrance to the exhibit “Nomads and Networks” at the Freer | Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

Documentary photographer Wayne Eastep next to his print of a Steppe horse in the steppes of southern Kazakhstan. The print is part of the “Nomads & Networks” exhibit at the Arthur Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

This small, sacred bronze-cast Lampion was used to burn oil and incense. A squatting horseman wears a caftan and helmet-like hat. A moveable horse figure with a bridle and plaited mane has a hole in its back for a candle or a torch. The dish is 25.5 centimeters (10 inches) in diameter and 18 centimeters (7 inches) high. It dates from the 4th to 3rd centuries B.C.

This headband of gold from the 2nd century B.C. is inlaid with Turquoise, Amandine and carved wood. Called the Kargalin Diadem, it was found in the grave of a Shaman believed to be Female. It is decorated with animals, and the central portion, which has been lost, is believed to be a tree of life. It was discovered in the mountains at Kargalin at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,200 feet). Central State Museum, Almaty, Kazakhstan

This cast copper cauldron with ram’s head legs dated from the 5th to 3rd centuries B.C. it was found in 1912 in the Semirechye area. It stands 58.5 centimeters high (23 inches). It is 31.5 centimeters (12 inches) deep and 52 centimeters (20 inches) in diameter. Cauldrons such as this werer used to cook the meat of sacrificial animals, or at the start of seasonal events such as the spring festival of Nauriz. Central State Museum, Almaty, Kazkhstan